By all accounts, Padraig Harrington is such a certainty for the Ryder Cup captaincy in 2020 he may as well start naming his fourball pairings now. Then again?
The focus of the European Tour may be on this week’s Turkish Airlines Open at the Regnum Carya resort but rumour, speculation, chitter and chatter about that transatlantic tussle tends to follow affairs around like a private detective.
When Lee Westwood announced recently that he was not considering going for the European captaincy in two years’ time at Whistling Straits and opting instead to focus on a push for the role in Italy in 2022, Harrington’s path to a job he clearly craves opened up.
It seemed it was going to be something of a procession to a coronation but Harrington, with the kind of diplomacy that would get him a seat at the UN, still expects a few other hats to be tossed into the ring.
“I have a fair idea who else would be looking to be in the hat,” he said with a tantalising grin before adding: “You’ll figure it out yourselves, guys.” The golf writers were never that good at Cluedo.
Paul Lawrie, who has effectively resigned himself to the fact that the captaincy has passed him by, could still be one of those names while the likes of Robert Karlsson, who was a valued vice-captain in Paris, has been mentioned in the general bletherings.
“I know no more than anybody else,” added Harrington. “I keep getting asked the question and then every second, third and fourth question keeps coming back when I say ‘there is not much I can say bar yes, I would like be the next Ryder Cup captain’. There are other names in the hat and nobody is fully sure when they are going to announce it but I certainly would relish the opportunity and the challenge.”
In the jubilant aftermath of Europe’s romp to victory over the USA at Le Golf National, those trusted with selecting the next Ryder Cup skipper didn’t waste much time in seeking out Harrington. “They come to you, the tour come and ask,” he added.
“It was almost immediately after the Ryder Cup. They want to get a picture who is interested. In Lee Westwood’s case, they needed to know whether he was interested or not. He got the feeling from watching it that maybe he can have one more go [at playing] and then go for the captaincy in 2022. That was my thinking the last time around that maybe there’s one more in me. But this time around? I’m thinking, ‘no’.
While he is certainly not counting his chickens, Harrington would still like the captaincy to be finalised sooner rather than later.
“I keep getting asked and I’m trying to say it hasn’t been decided, but once you start talking about it eventually it starts looking like I think I am,” Harrington added. “It puts me in an awkward position so I’d prefer the clarity.
“Being the captain in the US is different to being captain in Europe. In Europe you’re heavily involved in the set up of the course and different things. It’s 18 months of your life.”
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